Mississippi Department of Education Approves i-Ready® as a Universal Screener for Grades K–3

Schools and districts across the state can use the online program to measure student needs and growth

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., August 8, 2018—The Mississippi Department of Education, in collaboration with the Mississippi Reading Panel, has named Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready an approved universal reading screener for Mississippi students in Grades K–3. The state vetted universal screening assessments schools will administer to all students at least three times annually to provide an “especially critical ‘first look’ at individual students.” The online diagnostic and instruction program is currently used by districts across Mississippi and more than 7 million K–12 students nationwide.

“i-Ready supports educators in Mississippi and across the nation by identifying specific student needs, delivering individualized instruction, and providing an effective way to monitor progress so students can make real gains,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “This recognition from the Mississippi Department of Education not only gives us the opportunity to partner with more schools and districts across the state, it reaffirms we are making classrooms better places for students and teachers.”

Built to address the rigor of the new standards, i-Ready collects a broad spectrum of rich data on student abilities that identifies areas where a student is struggling, measures growth across a student’s career, supports teacher-led differentiated instruction, and provides a personalized instructional path within a single online solution. It also helps students make real gains. A comprehensive research study, which examined assessment data from more than four million students during the 2016–17 academic year, found that students who used i-Ready Instruction with fidelity experienced significantly greater learning gains—39 percent gains for English language arts and 38 percent gains for mathematics—than students who did not use the program. Analysis confirms these results were statistically significant. This impact was seen across subgroups such as economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and English language learners.

The i-Ready online diagnostic and instruction program is currently being used by districts in Mississippi such as Simpson County and the Pascagoula-Gautier School District as well as by over 15 percent of all K–8 students nationwide across all 50 states. Additionally, more than 1 million students use the program every school day.

Yazoo County School District in Yazoo City, MS, partnered with Curriculum Associates in an effort to increase the quality of individualized instruction targeted to students’ specific academic needs at one of its elementary schools.

“In my opinion, the instructional guidance obtained from the implementation of Ready Reading and Ready Mathematics coupled with the individualized instruction provided with i-Ready is invaluable,” said Gloria Jamison, federal programs director at Yazoo County School District. “Both the instruction and practice program and the academic intervention program have been instrumental in assisting the school in meeting their performance goals.”

“Mississippi’s K–3 reading policy is a model for other states. Instead of one state-mandated screener, districts can choose solutions that meet their students’ needs, reduce testing redundancy, and allow for choice in the marketplace,” Waldron said.